Ever since the dawn of computing, users have had the need to backup data, especially critical data. A number of backup techniques including incremental backups are known in the art. However, conventional backup techniques have been found to be inefficient in a number of situations, including in particular, the backup of wireless devices.
Since their introduction, the capabilities, features and services of wireless devices has steadily increased, while the cost of ownership and operation has decreased. At first, these mobile devices operated on analog wireless network that enabled voice communication and simple paging features. Later, digital wireless networks were introduced for cellular telephone communications as well as data communications. Such digital wireless networks allowed more advanced features such as encryption, color identification and the transmission and receipt of text messages (e.g., short message service “SMS” text messages).
As more and more data services are consumed using wireless mobile devices, more user data in particular, important, sensitive and/or critical data are being stored on the wireless mobile devices, requiring these data to be backed up. Conventional backup through the wireless network even when done on an incremental basis, is expensive. Requiring the docking of wireless mobile devices for the performance of a backup, through reduced expensive wireless air time is inconvenient and unfriendly.